Charles II of West Francia

Charles II "the Bald" of West Francia (13 June 823-6 October 877) was the king of Aquitaine from 838 to 855 (succeeding Pippin I of Aquitaine and preceding Charles III of Aquitaine), king of West Francia from 843 to 877 (succeeding Louis of West Francia and preceding Louis II of West Francia), the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire from 875 to 877 (succeeding Louis II of Italy and preceding Charles III of West Francia), and King of Italy from 875 to 877 (succeeding Louis II and preceding Carloman of Bavaria).

Biography
Charles the Bald was the son of Louis of West Francia and his second wife Judith of Bavaria. He was the half brother of Lothaire of Italy, Pepin I of Aquitaine, and Ludwig II of East Francia, and when his father intended to give Charles a share of the land distributed during the succession, Lothaire, Pepin, and Ludwig all rose in rebellion against their father several times. In 840 Charles allied with Ludwig to fight the pretensions of Lothaire and defeated him at the Battle of Fontenoy, and in August 843 the war ended. The Treaty of Verdun gave Charles the Bald West Francia while Ludwig gained East Francia, Pepin gained Aquitaine, and Lothaire gained Italy, Flanders, Rhineland, and Burgundy. The division of the empire inevitably led to war.

In 858, Ludwig was invited by disaffected nobles to invade West Francia and oust Charles, and Charles fled to Burgundy, as he was too unpopular to raise an army. The bishops there supported him, as did the House of Welf, which his mother belonged to. In 860 he invaded his nephew Charles of Provence's lands, but he was defeated. When Lothaire II of Lotharingia died in 869, he shared his domains with Ludwig.

Aside from family disputes, he also faced rebellions in Aquitaine and Brittany. In 845 he lost the Battle of Ballon and in 851 the Battle of Jengland to the Bretons, who gained de facto independence. He also fought against the Vikings, who devastated the north, the Seine and Loire valleys, and even Aquitaine. Charles was forced to purchase their retreat many times, and in response, he put up fortified bridges on all rivers, and these bridges would save Paris from the Vikings in 885-886 after his death.

In 875 he attempted to become Emperor of the Holy Roman Emperor after the death of Lothaire of Italy's son Louis II of Italy, and Pope John VIII supported him. He received the crown at Pavia and the royal insignia in Rome, but Ludwig invaded and devastated Charles' dominions out of jealousy. After Ludwig's death, Charles tried to invade East Francia, but lost at Andernach on 8 October 876. In 877 he died at Brides-les-Bains in the present-day Rhone-Alpes region of France while returning from an abandoned expedition to fight the Saracens in Italy.